


Birth Announcement

by Gorgeous Nerd (gorgeousnerd)



Category: Harry Potter - Rowling
Genre: Community: 800_words, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-06-20
Updated: 2008-06-20
Packaged: 2017-10-09 02:00:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 796
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/81764
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gorgeousnerd/pseuds/Gorgeous%20Nerd
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Marauders react to Lily's delicate condition.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Birth Announcement

**Author's Note:**

> This story was written for [](http://www.livejournal.com/users/800_words/profile)[**800_words**](http://www.livejournal.com/users/800_words/) in response to Jo Rowling's short [James-Sirius prequel](http://mmichelle.livejournal.com/150726.html) (but before the story was released to the public). The story was originally posted [here](http://community.livejournal.com/800_words/2604.html) anonymously, and can also be read on [LiveJournal](http://community.livejournal.com/chomalfoyfics/5087.html) and [Dreamwidth](http://firmament.dreamwidth.org/3420.html).

The pregnancy charm exploded red, and Lily Potter inhaled. As she watched the showering sparkles turn blue, she sat down a little harder than intended.

She put her wand on the table beside her and tried not to feel every single year of her life rushing up to meet her. Not because she felt particularly old; although, if there was any true end to childhood, having a child of your own served well. It was that every second that had come before seemed too short a rehearsal for this moment, and now she was center stage.

But there was a little shame, too. Her parents had been pleased about her marriage to James, but she read their faint disappointment upon their rare encounters. And her own, come to it. A woman in the 80s was expected to have a solid career, be independent...and okay, she was, but chasing Death Eaters never felt real.

On the heels of that thought came her first true motherly impulse: worry for her unborn son. She placed a hand on her still-flat stomach, cooed that everything was going to be fine. But she didn't know if she was talking more to the baby or to herself.

-

James felt dizzy as he felt Lily's gaze on his face. It was all happening so _fast_.

After all, he had just gotten married a year ago. No, not even a year. Six months?

_Seven months, four days_, he thought with precision, more Lily's thought than his own.

It seemed so much longer! Leaving Hogwarts in the spring of '78, joining the Order, the proposal, the jovial if tense wedding...he barely had a grasp on the concept of marriage, and now fatherhood was thrown into the mix?

They had wanted this. Times were uncertain, they didn't know what could happen to either or both of them...the words cycled in his head over and over. Maybe he'd believe it if he thought it enough.

"James?"

The sound of her voice was enough to relax his tensed muscles, gave him enough time to breathe. He smiled, and he knew it was genuine.

"I hope he has your eyes," James said aloud.

-

"A son?" Sirius clapped James on the shoulder. "Good man!"

James smiled as Sirius hooked his arms around his shoulder. The smile looked forced, but knowing James, it had more to do with the fact that they'd just been patrolling for nine hours than any baby qualms.

Sirius knew instantly, with plenty of swagger and no doubt whatsoever, that he would be the godfather. And he'd be a damn good one. He'd buy the tyke his first broom, take him for motorcycle rides while his parents were doing grown-up stuff, sneak him his first Busty Witches mags...yes, he'd be the perfect role model to any son of James Potter.

"What's that Muggle tradition?" he asked as he ruffled James's hair. "Cigars?"

James swatted at his hand. "I'd prefer the upstanding wizard tradition of Firewhisky."

"To the pub!"

-

"What are you doing? I don't know if this line is secure!"

"Sending along a message." Sirius's head looked much as it always did, even suspended in fire: greasy and full of too many teeth. "And it's fine. Dumbledore cleared it."

Remus ran his hands over his bared arms. He would stand closer to the fire, but that'd be a dead giveaway. "Well?"

"Lily's having a boy in July."

Remus nodded. Considering the speed of their post-school courtship and the direction the war was taking, it came as no surprise. If anything, he'd expected it sooner.

"Anything you want me to pass along?"

"My congratulations, of course."

"Of course." Sirius's eyes narrowed. "You okay?"

No, he wasn't. He was in a run-down shack in eastern Europe – he didn't want to even think the exact location, lest he say the wrong thing – finishing up a task for the Order. After this, he wasn't sure he'd have work, much less a place even like this and food to eat. Dumbledore insisted that he could stay with the Order, but he'd taken advantage of the man's generosity far too much already.

But Merlin, he wanted to be there. He wanted to see Lily and James's son born. But that was just too unlikely, and, therefore, too painful.

"Fine," he said. "I'm fine."

-

As Peter knelt at the foot of the Dark Lord and waited for an order, he wondered what he'd get Lily and James at the baby shower.

He felt a twinge at the thought (the Dark Lord was probably to _kill_ them, you git) but he found himself looking forward to the birth and all that went with it. He had precious little to look forward to these days.

A Muggle diaper bin. They'd love it.


End file.
